Latest EVENT REVIEW articles

ihaveanidea @ VCU’s Executive Education for CDs, Days Four & Five

The sun was shining bright and the weather was hot — but not too hot — when I stepped out of the hotel to head on over to the Brandcenter this morning. The concierge warned that the weatherman called for thunderstorms this afternoon, but I was in too much of a hurry to grab an umbrella. Besides, how bad can a little rain be?

ihaveanidea @ VCU’s Executive Education for CDs, Day Three

I didn’t really need that 7 AM wake-up call from the hotel front desk this morning; instead I was awakened by the pounding of rain against my window. Yeah, this weather is truly leaving a lot to be desired. Oh well, I’m only a block away from the school, so with umbrella in hand, I headed out for Day Three of the Executive Education course.

ihaveanidea @ VCU’s Executive Education for CDs, Day Two

I’m not sure if I’m relieved or disappointed that Richmond weather has been pretty close to Montreal weather on this trip. Sure, it’s still early in the day — and early in the week, which promises to end as a scorcher — but when your mind is set on bayou-like conditions, 85 degrees seems like a bit of a let-down.

Breakfast is served at the first full day of Digital Leadership and Management Skills for Creative Directors, with plates piled high with bacon, sausage, ham, egg and cheese croissants, fruit salad and yogurt, as well as a staple of the South, iced tea. Nourishment is going to be important today, as Kelly O’Keefe, Managing Director of the VCU Brandcenter says this will be one of the busiest days of the week.

ihaveanidea @ VCU’s Executive Education for CDs, Day One

A long time ago, way back when the VCU Brandcenter was called the Adcenter and was located in a considerably less swanky building than the renowned ad school is found today, I had the great pleasure of travelling down to Richmond one summer to be a fly on the wall for one of VCU’s Executive Education programs.

ihaveanidea’s Extrava-Cannes-za 2010

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 30th, A CAFÉ IN MONTREAL’S PLATEAU DISTRICT

Ignacio: Hey.

Brett: Hey.

Ignacio: …so?

Brett: … yeah. This is the first day I feel normal.

Ignacio: I can’t tell you how much I slept. Twelve, fourteen hour blocks.

Brett: I’m only now coming out of my house.

Ignacio: Wow.

Brett: Hear from Steph?

Ignacio: Yeah. She’s coming here later.

WAS MARIE ANTOINETTE A GUEST OF THE CANNES AD FESTIVAL?

Hilton Barbour
Marketing Provocateur
hiltonbarbour.com

I’ve often wondered if residents of Cannes exhibit the characteristics of migratory birds or Vietnam veterans with PTSD. With the week-long blow-out that is the annual advertising festival, do they rush as far from the city as possible to escape the mayhem or dig out their ear-plugs, abandon all hope of [...]

VCU Brandcenter’s Recruiter Sessions 2010

A number of weeks ago, our good friends at the VCU Brandcenter in Richmond, VA invited us down to their annual Recruiter Session — a few days when the school’s graduating class gets to show off their skills to different CDs and recruiters. It seemed like an interesting enough event, especially since I can remember a time when “junior” and “recruiter” weren’t often used in the same sentence. Independent headhunters didn’t bother with fresh outta school creatives and the miniscule commissions their salaries would earn them, and ad agency recruiters, well, with dozen of physical books and hundreds of emails being delivered each week, they never really had to go out looking for junior talent.

David&Goliath: Ten years of giant killing

ihaveanidea gets a lot of love from advertising agencies all over the world. One agency that has been particularly good to us over the past few years is David&Goliath out in Los Angeles. Recently D&G hit a milestone that all plucky young upstarts want to hit, the big 1-0. According to tradition, a tenth anniversary [...]

The Advertising & Design Club of Canada “Directions 2009″

2009 is the year of many milestones, and for the Advertising & Design Club of Canada it marks its diamond 60th anniversary. It’s time to take a look at how far the ADCC has come and marvel at the speed at which the entire advertising and design industry is moving, in Canada and across the globe.

Crea 2009

The Crea Awards, the yearly local Quebec award show organised by Infopresse, are always guaranteed to be a lot of fun. This year, none other than Erik Vervroegen was acting as the jury’s co-president with Sid Lee’s Creative Chief Philippe Meunier. We managed to get a hold of them both when Erik was in Montreal [...]